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A chat with ... 'Peanuts' TV producer Lee Mendelson

My mother was a fan. Why characters enduring A couple things come to mind. Charles Schulz felt there would always be a market for innocence in this country. And even though the characters especially Lucy

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Holidays just aren't complete in my house without watching classic Peanuts specials, especially Great Pumpkin, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and A Charlie Brown Christmas.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Thanksgiving special, which airs again Thursday. A special deluxe edition DVD is now on sale as well, which includes another Thanksgiving-themed special, 1988's The Mayflower Voyagers.

Recently I spoke with Lee Mendelson, who produced more than 40 animated Peanuts specials alongside Charles Schulz and Bill Melendez. Now 80, Mendelson was happy to reflect on what it was like working with Schulz and making the timeless 'toons:

Me: My mother was a big Peanuts fan, and now I can pass my love for it along to my daughter. Why do you think the characters have endured for generations?

Mendelson: A couple things come to mind. Charles Schulz felt there would always be a market for innocence in this country. And even though the characters, especially Lucy, aren't all innocent, certainly Charlie Brown and Linus are.

He felt that maybe Charlie Brown's popularity was because people would feel this is the kind of boy they could be a next-door neighbor to. I've always thought it's because he's got this daily struggle with life, and every time he gets knocked down, he gets up and tries again. I think we all identify with that.

I think the remarkable thing is how the characters have just permeated our daily lives. Whether you're reading a book or watching a movie or television or hearing politicians, some Charlie Brown reference will come up.

That's true.

I think probably one of the most famous things to come out of the television show has been the "wa-wa" sound. That came about because there were no adults in the comic strip, and we had to find a way to get the offstage voice of the teacher. We asked Vince Guaraldi, our composer, to come up with a sound like an adult, and he thought of the trombone. That's how the whole thing began.

What was Charles Schulz like to work with? Was he very detail-oriented?

Yes. We were partners with Bill Melendez and Vince Guaraldi at the start. We had tremendous fun producing the shows, and were lucky that networks and sponsors never interfered. But Mr. Schulz was very detail-oriented. Someone who draws over 18,000 comic strips has to be.

When it came to the television shows, he was taking quite a risk. As he often said to us, with the comic strip he was the producer, writer director and set designer. With the animation, he no longer had all that control.

Yes. It's funny how this all came about. My first network special had been on Willie Mays. One day I was reading a Charlie Brown comic strip and a thought popped into my head: We've done the world's greatest baseball player. We should do the world's worst: Charlie Brown.

I called Mr. Schulz — he was listed in the phone book — and said I'd like to do a documentary on him and Charlie Brown. He said, "I'm really not interested. I don't really want to get involved with New York or Hollywood or animation. I just want to focus on the strip."

I asked him if he happened to see the Willie Mays show, and he said, "Oh, yes, I loved it. Why do you ask?" I said, "We did that show, and that's kind of what we'd like to do with you." There was a long pause, and then he said, "Well, why don't you come up, and we'll talk."

We started the documentary, and I was trying to figure out what kind of music to use, particularly for the couple bits of animation we were going to do. I was driving over the Golden Gate Bridge, listening to the jazz station. (On came) a song called Cast Your Fate to the Wind, and I thought it was the perfect sound for what we were trying to do.

(Vince and I) met in downtown San Francisco, and he agreed to do the show. About two weeks later, he called and said, "I've got a theme song I want to play for you." And he played Linus and Lucy for the first time. It was so perfect and so right, because it felt both adult-like and childlike.

That's amazing. Now, I know it's hard because you've done so many, but what would you say are your three favorite Peanuts specials?

For me, The Great Pumpkin was special because of the story, the bright colors and because we got to have Snoopy fly his doghouse, which became a memorable scene. Of course, A Charlie Brown Christmas — if it hadn't been for that, none of this would've happened. And finally, I really enjoyed The Mayflower Voyagers.

And in honor of Thanksgiving, what would you say you're thankful for?

Well, I personally am thankful that I had this wonderful partnership with Bill Melendez and Charles Schulz for more than 40 years and that we were able to deliver some good entertainment to a lot of folks. I'm very thankful to the viewers who have been so loyal to us over the years, and I'm thankful that there is still, as he said, this market for innocence.

Note: A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and The Mayflower Voyagers air Nov. 28 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving app is also now on sale on iTunes and Google Play.